Coin-operated vending machine



Jan. 11, 1955 L. Gum! 2,699,243

COIN-OPERATED VENDING MACHINE Filed March 17, 1951 2 sheets sheet 1 f 3 mm v2 FIG] W Ila L f F|G.2

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34 /6 /7 3o 3 3 (WM w ATTOR NEY Jan. 11, 1955 GUNY 2,699,243

COIN-OPERATED VENDING MACHINE Filed March 17, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. Kim %7 BY M ATTORNEY United States Patent CHIN-OPERATED VENDING MACHINE Louis Guny, Pawtucket, R. I.

Application March 17, 1951, Serial No. 216,160

1 Claim. (Cl. 194-85) The present invention relates to vending machines, and has particular reference to coin operated dispensers for book matches and the like.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a simple device which uses a deposited coin as an element of a vending mechanism.

Another object of the invention is to provide an inexpensive dispenser of compact design and large capacity.

A further object of the invention is to provide a simple construction for a dispenser, which utilizes a small number of sturdy parts made of plastic or similar suitable material.

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in view, the invention consists of a novel arrangement of parts more fully disclosed in the detailed description following, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and more specifically defined in the claim appended thereto.

In the drawings,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an illustrative vending machine embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 33 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a detail, partly in section, of the coin receiving parts; and

Fig. 6 is a section on the line 66 of Fig. 5, a deposited coin being indicated in dotted lines.

It has been found desirable to provide a vending machine for book matches and similar small packaged articles, which is adapted to receive a deposited coin, the parts being so arranged that manual rotation of a wheel utilizes the deposited coin as a push element for turning an ejector shaft, the shaft having fingers for ejecting the book matches or similar articles from package sup- 1 ply chambers.

Referring to the drawings, the vending machine 10 includes a base 11 and a package housing 12 which is removably seated on the base 11 and includes a number of vertical supply chambers 13 each containing packages 14, the packages in each chamber 13 being urged downwardly by a weight 15, and being normally held in place by support elements 16 which are spaced apart as indicated at 17 in Fig. 2.

As illustrated in Fig. 3, the housing 12 has a removable transparent cover 18, preferably of plastic, which seats at its lower end in a recess 19 in a cross bar 20 of the base, and has side channels 21 which ride on flanges 22 of the housing side walls 23, 24 and an upper flange 25 which seats on the upper wall 26 of the housing. The cross bar 20 is positioned sufficiently above the package support elements 16 to permit ejection of one package, as hereinafter described.

The base 11 includes a curved chute 27 extending lengthwise for receiving packages from the housing, and a front wall 28 which is cut away above the chute 27 to permit ejected packages to slide out, the front wall having an upper extension 29 which is preferably domed and which prevents access to the lower portion of the ousmg.

An ejector shaft 30 is rotatably mounted in one side wall 31 of the base and in an arcuate saddle 32 secured to the other side wall 33 of the base, the end 34 adjacent the side wall 31 being provided with two diametrically spaced recesses 35, 36 and the base having a spring finger 37 secured thereto and adapted to releasably seat in the recesses 35, 36 as the ejector shaft is rotated. Ejector bars 38 are mounted on the outer surface of the ejector shaft in spaced relation to successively extend into the lower portion of each chamber 13, see Fig. 3, between the contiguous support elements 16, for pushing a package forwardly into the chute 27.

An actuating wheel 39 is recessed as indicated at 40, see Fig. 5, and rotatably seated in the base wall 33 in axial alignment with the ejector shaft 30, the inner portion 41 of the wheel being bored to provide an annular flange 41a to rotatably receive a reduced portion 42 of the contiguous end 43 of the ejector shaft. The flange 41a has to diametrically positioned through slots 44, 45, and the contiguous end 43 of the ejector shaft also has two diametrically positioned pockets 46, 47.

The base 11 has a coin inlet 48, see Fig. 5, with its exit slot 49 bridging over the contiguous ends of the actuating wheel and the ejector shaft. When the wheel 39 is turned counterclockwise, the coin will drop when a wheel slot and a shaft pocket are aligned, and the shaft then turns and ejects a package into the chute. The coin drops into a box 50 in the base upon completion of the package ejecting movement.

In the illustrated embodiment, the ejector bars are arranged in pairs, to eject two packages simultaneously; if it is desired to eject one package per coin, the slots in the wheel and the shaft pocket are increased to correspond to the number of supply chambers, and the number of recesses at the other end of the shaft are increased to correspond. As will be noted in Fig. 3, the axis of the actuating shaft is displaced laterally with respect to the supply chambers, whereby rotation of the shaft in clockwise direction will merely cause lifting of the packages by the actuating rods. It is preferred, however, to install a catch device such as a ratchet arrangement of known type, not illustrated, to prevent backward turning of the actuatng Wheel.

Although I have disclosed a specific constructional embodiment of the invention, it is obvious that the shape and arrangement of the parts may be changed to meet different requirements for a coin operated vending machine, without departing from the spirit or the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claim.

I claim:

In a coin operated vending machine having a base and a housing on the base with two side walls including a package supply chamber, an arcuate saddle secured to one side wall, an ejector shaft below the package supply chamber and having one end rotatably mounted on the other side wall and the other end rotatably supportably seated on the saddle, the end of the shaft supported in the saddle having a reduced portion, an actuating wheel rotatably mounted in the base in axial alignment with the shaft and having an annular flange extending over the reduced end shaft portion, said saddle underlying the reduced end shaft portion and the actuating wheel annular flange, the reduced end shaft portion being in spaced relation to the inner surface of the annular flange to freely turn therein, the reduced end shaft portion and the adjacent shaft body having diametrically positiloned radial pockets and the annular flange having radial s ots.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 893,582 Hess July 14, 1908 1,240,413 Bridges Sept. 18, 1917 1,250,391 Treadgold Dec. 18, 1917 1,367,370 Glover Feb. 1, 1921 1,717,593 White June 18, 1929 1,795,810 Weber Mar. 10, 1931 FOREIGN PATENTS 200,084 Germany July 8, 1908 231,297 Germany Feb. 18, 1911 16,891 Great Britain of 1896 

